The Rise and Fall of Shego
by Jane Poirot
Summary: When Kim accidentally causes a temporary decline in grace for Shego, she feels she must repair the damage. But will Shego be willing to accept it?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine; this takes place during season four (sort of; there is no set date for it). During KP's temporary cancellation period, I wrote a series of short stories to entertain myself (this was before I discovered this site). This is one of them, and I assure you the way it is now is _waaaay_ better than how I had originally written it (it wasn't bad, it was just...okay...I guess it's one of those things where you get better with experience, look back on your previous attempts at trying, and think "God, I was awful", you know?). I basically just took parts of it and revised it so it would be a better story for this site. This is meant to be around the length of a typical KP episode, so it'll be fairly short.

Any-hoo, enough of my blabbing. Without further ado, I present this story.

* * *

1

_Wow, it's that late already?_ thought Kim Possible as she sat up at the computer in her room. She had gotten ready for bed fifteen minutes ago and was now catching up on any overdue assignments she had missed during her earlier missions. It was no easy sitch to balance saving the world from the latest supervillain attempt to take over the world—be it Drakken, Monkey Fist, or the Seniors—_and _her schoolwork, including her extracurricular activities.

Speaking of which...

Kim's green eyes darted over to the small computer clock on the right-hand corner of the screen once more. Ten-thirty. She still had time to call up Tara.

With the press of a button, Kim turned off the computer, picked up the phone, and dialled Tara's home phone number. There had been a...incident...at cheer practice earlier that day. Two students from Lowerton High had been caught spying on the cheerleaders, trying to make notes of their every move to copy for any future cheerleading competitions. This ignited a fight between the two groups, and just when it looked as though it was about to get at its ugliest, Kim and Ron were called up by Wade to leave for a new mission. By the time Kim had returned, cheer practice had ended.

Now curious as to what, if any, results came from the fight, Kim had decided to call up the one cheerleader on the team whom she was friendliest with: Tara.

After about ten seconds, Tara's voice could be heard on the other line: "Hi, _Jimmy!_ I'm so glad you could call me this late, _Jimmy!_"

"Uh...Tara?" said Kim, wondering if Tara was a little overtired and if calling her had been such a great idea after all.

"Okay, sure!" laughed Tara's bubbly voice. "I'll help you solve this math problem in _just one minute!"_

There was a fifteen-second long pause before Tara spoke in a more normal voice: "Sorry about that; my parents are still up, and they don't like it when I'm called this late at night. So what's up, Kim?"

Kim had forgotten that Tara's family had recently gotten Caller ID, and therefore Tara would have to charge like a mad dog towards the phone if it rang any later than ten.

"Hey, Tara," said Kim, "I'm just calling to ask how the rest of that confrontation went today. I would've stuck around to stick up for the team, but then Wade called, and, well..."

"No biggie," sighed Tara, sounding weary, "I get it; I'm kind of used to it by now. How did your mission go, by the way?"

"Oh, it was no big," shrugged Kim, "Anyone could save an innocent group of monkeys from becoming new ninjas by swimming through a leach-infested pit."

She heard a brief shudder on the other line. At that point, Kim couldn't help but wonder why Tara was dancing around the subject of the argument. Had something particularly ugly occurred? Were the two spies ultimately turned over to the principal? Had bloodshed occurred?

"So, what happened when I was gone?" asked Kim.

Kim could hear a slight cough and a nervous laugh, "W-ell..."

"Spit it out, Tara," said Kim encouragingly.

Tara cleared her throat before saying, "Well, see, the coach of those spies came to get them right before it got ugly, and they told us about how they were having a cheer-off with another school that got bumped up to the same weekend _we _were supposed to go up against them. And so, after some negotiating…we're doing the cheer-off Friday."

"_Friday?"_ exclaimed Kim. Tonight was Friday, so naturally, she assumed this meant the competition would be the following Friday. But that meant...

"Tara, not only does that give us very short time to prepare, but that was the day we were _supposed_ to have a cheer-off against the Upperton Unicorns!" groaned Kim.

"I know, I'm sorry!" said Tara apologetically. "I wasn't thinking_,_ I just...acted on impulse. One coach was there with the other, and I made a suggestion, and, well, one thing led to another…"

"It's okay, Tara," sighed Kim, though she did feel a little overwhelmed by the idea of only having a week to prepare for a cheer-off, seeing how the others in the past had at least been scheduled, and thus planned in advance. "I've been able to organize things with only a week. We can get through this. I'll just re-schedule the Upperton Unicorns for some other time."

"Glad to hear you understand," sighed Tara. "Well, I'll see you Monday, or maybe at the mall over the weekend. Good night, Kim."

"Good night, Tara," said Kim. She hung up the phone and yawned. As much as she was surprised by having to face off against the Lowerton Lemurs next week, it was not enough to keep her awake. She was exhausted from her long, hard day and ready to call it a night.

Kim got up and began to head over to bed, when her Kimmunicator started beeping. She sighed, picked up the Kimmunicator off her desk, pressed a button, and said wearily, "Hey Wade, what's the sitch?"

"It isn't a _huge_ sitch, but it's suspicious," said Wade, who looked like he was about to drift off to sleep. He took a sip of hot chocolate to keep himself awake long enough to deliver an important message to Kim: "Frugal Lucre has escaped from jail, and he has been mailing out invitations to his upcoming birthday party to all the other villains, including Drakken and Shego.

"A birthday party, huh?" said Kim. "Eh, I guess that's not _too_ harmful, but if he's inviting the super villains, I guess Ron and I should go over there and investigate, just in case there's something suspicious. Could you please send an e-mail over to Ron about this sitch so we can make a plan in the morning?"

"Are you sure about this Kim?" Wade asked reluctantly. "You _do_ remember what happened the last time you and Ron infiltrated some big super villain event, don't you?"

Kim shuddered. She knew from personal experience that your best friend turning evil was not something you could easily forget. She had tried. And failed. Repeatedly.

"Well, it's not like Frugal Lucre has an Attitudinator at his party, right?" said Kim. "After all, he _is_ pretty cheap." Then, "So when's this party?"

"Tomorrow at two o'clock," replied Wade, "I'll take you and Ron myself under the guise as another villain."

"You continue to rock, Wade," said Kim. She pressed a button and turned off the Kimmunicator. She walked up to the nightstand and placed it just underneath the lamp. She let out a weary sigh and collapsed onto the bed.

Kim barely had enough energy to pull the covers up to her arms and cuddle her Pandaroo in her arms. Before drifting off to sleep she muttered, "Now if only I could get some peace and quiet for a couple minutes."


	2. Chapter 2

2

The next day, Kim, Ron, and Wade found themselves in Upperton, disguised as the "Evil Medieval" trio from Wade's childhood comic books. Kim was the 'femme fatale' of the group, "Lady Quartered", decked out in a royal blue dress, a gold collar, and a gold belt at the waste. Ron (playing the role of "Lord Hung") wore a royal blue robe with faux fur at the collar (which, when tied up neatly at the waist, concealed his street clothes). And Wade was dressed as the incompetent jester "Sir Drawn" in blue-and-black.

"Whoa, check it out, Rufus!" exclaimed Ron as he spun around in his robe. "We're royalty, man! Ah boo-yeah!"

"Royalty, uh-huh!" chirped Rufus. Even he had a tiny little crown Wade made up from scraps of cardboard.

"Keep it down, Ron," said Kim as she adjusted her opera mask on her face, "We're almost there."

Ron and Wade slipped their masks on and the three walked up together to the home of Frugal Lucre. "Are you sure we're at the right address, Wade?" asked Kim. "Didn't he used to live in Philadelphia?"

"When his mom busted him out a short while ago," explained Wade as they further approached the house, "she thought a change in environment might help reform her son somehow, and they moved here. At least that's what his blog said the last time I checked it."

"Wait, he has a blog?" said Ron, surprised.

"Even super villains have blogs now, Ron," said Kim as they walked up the front steps.

Ron blinked. "Huh. Interesting."

"Of course, it also makes finding them that much easier," said Kim as she rang the doorbell.

"Wait, did _we_ have a villain blog?" asked Ron.

"I already took care of it," said Wade as the footsteps on the other side of the door grew louder. "Although I had to take a few…liberties…"

The door opened and there stood Frugal Lucre with a few shaving cuts on his chin. He said, "You must be the Evil Medieval trio on VillainBook! So glad you could come!" He sighed, "So many villains don't appreciate good economic sense anymore…glad to see you still do!"

Lucre shook hands with Wade. "Sir Drawn," he declared, "I can't wait to hear your new idea for how to save even more money just by buying only one item per week at Smarty Mart!" He wrinkled his nose. "Although, that would probably mean less customers, but hey—sharp saving is smart spending, right?"

He wriggled his eyebrows at Kim. "And you must be Lady Quartered." He took her by one, glove hand and lightly kissed it. Kim felt slightly queasy, but told herself it could be worse—it could've been Drakken kissing her hand.

Lucre turned to a beaming Ron, anticipating some sort of flattery. "Nice to meet you," was all Lucre said before opening the door further. "Come on in!"

"Wait!" said Ron. "Don't you want to try to _guess_ at my name? C'mon, it's at the tip of your tongue, you know it—isn't it just _hanging_ there? Is it _hung_ on your mind?"

"Mmm…nah, never heard of you," shrugged Lucre. He went back inside just as Ron slouched and sighed, "Even when I'm using an alias, no one remembers my name."

"Come on!" hissed Kim. She grabbed Ron by the wrist, and the three of them walked inside together. Lucre's living room, which was decked in a hideous shade of grape on the walls, ceiling, carpet, and furniture, was filled with Kim's foes from the past. They were all laughing and talking, though Kim couldn't quite hear just what they were talking about. For once, they didn't appear to be talking about anything villainous—they were just getting caught up with each other's lives.

"…and then I tell him, "that's no golf club, that's my weapon of mass destruction"!" finished Killigan. He and the other villains had a good laugh over whatever joke or anecdote he had previously told. Ron forced himself to join in with a weak chuckle. The only one not laughing was Junior, who just blinked and said, "I don't get it."

"What's _not_ to get?" said Ron. "That was hilarious, Killigan, just hilarious!" He forced another cheesy laugh, which gradually came to a stop when he realized the other villains weren't laughing and were instead looking at him strangely.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" asked Junior. "Your face, it looks familiar, but the name escapes me…"

"I am Lord Hung!" declared Ron in an extremely regal manner. The other villains stood and blinked. "What's the punch line?" asked Junior.

"Um…uh…oh, look!" said Ron, pointing over to a nearby pin-up. "Let's go play that! That looks like fun!"

He ran over to the pin-up…only to see it was a picture of Kim from her website with several holes poked through it. Above it was the sign, written in crude paint, "Pin the tail on Kim Possible". The actual Kim Possible, who stood just nearby, did not look amused.

"Oh, I feel _very_ popular here," muttered Kim sarcastically. Upon a double inspection of the line, she noticed Drakken and Shego weren't in line. She looked over to see them sitting on a couch laughing.

"Oh, if only we could actually do this to her," laughed Drakken. He stopped laughing and said, "Actually, Shego, I have an idea…"

"Let me guess," said Shego dryly, "It involves you inventing a machine that shoots out darts and needles at Possible?"

"Close, Shego, close," said Drakken, now grinning evilly and rubbing his hands together. "I won't tell. You'll just have to wait."

"Which means you don't know what it's going to be," said Shego plainly.

"Well, of _course_ I know what it will be, Shego," said Drakken defensively. "You're just going to have to wait and find out what it is!"

Kim rolled her eyes, figuring this was going nowhere. She left to the kitchen to leave the two villains behind to bicker. She had only been here a few minutes and already, she could tell there would be no ultra top-secret plan to be revealed at this party. It was simply a gathering for the villains to come, socialize, and treat Kim as a voodoo doll. But it was better to be safe than sorry, right?

As Kim was wondering if she should find Ron and Wade and discuss whether they should stay a bit longer in hopes of someone slipping up, or leaving on the assumption nothing major was going on, she heard someone say, "Aren't you that dorky medieval queen wanna-be on VillainBook?"

Kim gasped and spun around to see Shego standing there. "Uh, yes, of course," she stammered, trying to sound regal, "It is I, Lady Quartered." She narrowed an eye while raising an eyebrow. "And you had better show me some respect."

"Lady Quartered, huh?" muttered Shego. "Ya know, that kind of sounds like that villain from that dorky comic book my brothers used to make me read…but any-hoo, tell me: When was it?"

"When was what?" asked Kim. She drummed her fingers on the kitchen counter.

"When were you defeated by Possible?" said Shego. "Everyone here has a story to share about that little princess. What's yours?"

Kim stopped drumming her fingers. "I can't tell you," she said, "It's too embarrassing."

"Come on, I admitted to the time I got stuck in that melting cheese block," said Shego with a wave of the hand, "I smelt like cheese for a _week_ afterwards. Whatever it is she did, it can't be _that _embarrassing."

Kim looked over Shego's shoulder and said, "Oh look, there are my sidekicks! Lord Hung! Sir Drawn! Over here!"

Ron and Wade, who stood in line to play "Pin the Tail on Kim Possible", looked up to see Kim waving her arms and mouthing, "Get over here quick!" They stepped out of line to go to the kitchen at the same time Junior cried out, "Where's the cake, father?"

He pushed Ron and Wade aside, causing them to trip and fall onto the floor, which in turn caused their masks to fall off and reveal them to the villains, who gasped at the sight of the two, blushing heroes. Shego growled, "I knew it!" She snatched Kim's mask off of her face and said, "Oh, Kimmy…comic book super villain style went out of style eight years ago."

Kim took up a fighting stance. This was going to get nasty. "I could say the same about you, but why bother?"

The other villains stood around the two women, eagerly waiting for another epic battle between good and evil. Shego lit up her hands and…

"Frances! I'm home!"

The villains let out a groan at the sound of Lucre's mother coming in through the front door. "Looks like I'm going to have to kick your butt another day, princess," groaned Shego as she unlit her hands.

"Mom, you came home early," whined Lucre.

Lucre's mother walked into the kitchen alongside her son and said, "Sorry dear, but my poker meeting ended a little early." She eyed Kim, Ron, and Wade with surprise. "Why, hello there, Kim Possible! I haven't seen you in a long time!"

"Mom, they crashed my party," Lucre continued to whine. "Aren't you going to do _something_ to them?"

"Oh, maybe I could call their parents and have them come pick them up," said Lucre's mom thoughtfully. "In the mean time, you three may stay in Frances' room. But I'm afraid it's a pig sty up there! I'll go upstairs and clean his room and come back for you."

The other villains smiled nervously as she headed past them and went upstairs. When she was out of sight, there was an awkward silence. The villains were torn between taking Kim for themselves, and letting Lucre's mother take them upstairs. On the one hand, the temptation was great; on the other, Lucre had earlier warned them not to give away any hint of criminal activity while his mother was around.

The silence was interrupted by Ron noticing the nearby cake on the counter. "Hey look! There's cake!" he said, pointing to the cake. "Everyone loves cake! What do you say we all have some cake, huh?"

"And what do you say you just _shut up?"_ said Shego dryly. She got a sudden idea and said, "Or how about you have a slice and tell us for yourself, _Kimmy?"_

On the word "Kimmy", Kim soon found herself going from facing a crowd of angry villains to facing the vanilla frosting in the cake. She felt the cold frost on her face, and also felt humiliation and fury to hear the villains howling with laughter and Lucre groaning, "Aw, Shego! Now you've ruined my cake!"

* * *

"That was _so_ not cool," said Ron as he helped Kim wipe some of the leftover cake off her face up in Lucre's room. His room was indeed quite untidy. Oddly enough, it also had some sort of microphone on his desk. "Don't tell him," his mother had said, "it's his birthday surprise for later tonight. My darling little Frances needs new equipment to practice for when he gets back to making announcements at Smarty Marty."

Of course, it wasn't like the three of them particularly cared about this detail, especially not Kim. "That…was so _humiliating!"_ she said angrily as she flung the cloth onto the floor. "It's bad enough that we get caught, but then Shego felt she just _had_ to go out of her way to…to _do_ that! I swear, she's like an evil version of Bonnie!"

"On the bright side, at least Bonnie isn't a super villain," said Ron. He paused. "Sometimes." Another pause. "I think." Another pause. "Wade, do a double check on her when we get home, okay?"

Kim let out a frustrated groan and sat down at Lucre's desk. "At least Bonnie had her own humbling moments, if only for a few minutes. I wish that for one day—just _one day—_Shego would have her _own_ humbling moment!"

To emphasize that frustration, she slammed a fist down on the desk—not noticing she had just switched the mike on as she spoke: "I know I shouldn't wish stuff like that, but it's sometimes like Shego just _forgot_ that she used to be a superhero!"

Only Ron and Wade noticed Kim's voice was suddenly amplified throughout the room, and that they could hear gasping downstairs. They tried to signal for her to stop, but Kim, caught up in her emotions, went on: "In fact, it's like she forgot that time she put her evil reputation behind to help out her own old team mates. I saw another side to her that day, Ron—a more heroic side."

"Uh, Kim…"

"We both worked together as if we always had and hadn't just started."

"KP…"

"Sometimes, it's very hard for me to believe that there was a time and a place where Shego used her superpowers for good, _not_ evil."

"KIM!" Wade and Ron burst out.

"What?" said Kim, finally coming off her cloud. She heard the slight feedback…and the snickering from downstairs. She noticed the mike and realized just what it was she had done—just in time to hear Shego let out a furious growl and run up the steps.

Kim quickly switched the mike off, but Ron said, "It's too late, KP. Everyone here now knows Shego's deep, dark secret."

"Uh-oh," said Rufus.

The door was kicked open by Shego, with a look that as a mixture of fury and humiliation. Her hands lit and she charged towards Kim with a fierce cry. Kim had planned to charge right back to flip Shego over.

What happened instead was that she tripped and dodged the attack by falling over to the side, resulting in Shego charging and tripping over Kim, and crashing right into the wall. She fell to the ground as the snickers of the nearby villains grew louder.

"Ay, have we grown a wee bit soft, Shego?" taunted Killigan. "Knowing how you and _Kimmy_ are such good friends and all…"

"Hey, what if you were actually working with _her_ all along?" said Lucre angrily. "How do we know you're not some _spy_ or something?"

"It's not like that," growled Shego. "I just had a temporary lapse in judgement, and that is all."

"When you teamed up with _her,"_ Lucre gestured to Kim, "or when you teamed up with your brothers before ever meeting us?"

For once, Shego was speechless. She rolled her eyes and snapped, "Yeah, you know what, _Frances?_ I am _so_ out of here."

She stormed past the other villains, but not before Kim caught the slightest hint of growing humiliation on her face. And it was this look that cast a feeling of guilt onto her.

* * *

"This party was _so_ lame, Dr. D," said Shego, trying her hardest to walk tall and proud as she and Drakken left the house.

"Shego," said Drakken suddenly, "Meet me at the park tomorrow. We need to talk."

Shego kept up her bravado, but inside, she began to feel the slightest threat in those words—those were the words that usually meant what was coming would end in tears.


	3. Chapter 3

3

The next day, Ron hoped taking Kim to Bueno Nacho would help take her mind off what had happened by at least a little bit. He knew she would probably still feel guilty, but he wanted to at least _try_ to make her happy. But not even this could erase the look of gloominess that lay on her face.

The only sound that could be heard was the loud crunching of Ron slowly chewing up his naco. Any other day, he would eagerly scarf it down. Today, Kim's gloominess was beginning to spread. If she wasn't entirely happy, he couldn't be either. He gulped and said, "KP…you're not still thinking about what happened with Shego yesterday, are you?"

"Sort of," said Kim as she poked at her salad with her fork, "I mean…they accused her of being a _spy,_ Ron. She had good reason to agree to go with us that day when I threatened to reveal her secret on my website. And now they know…"

"All right, so a couple of our foes are suspicious about Shego, so what?" shrugged Ron. "She still has Drakken. Even if no one else will hire her, he'll still keep her." He took apart his naco. "With Shego, he's a naco. Without her, he's just a nacho."

"Weird analogy, Ron," said Kim, but she was beginning to arrange her salad on her fork now. "But I guess you have a point."

Yeah…maybe this wasn't so bad. Maybe she was just turning a little sitch into a huge one. Within time, the revelation on Shego's past would soon be forgotten, and all would return to normal.

This thought was crushed by the sound of the doors bursting open. Kim and Ron slid over to see who had made such a violent entrance. Some people were trembling in fear. Others were standing still, paralyzed with fright. And select few were trying their best to ignore it and eat their meal in peace. What they were all reacting to was the sight of a furious Shego marching into Bueno Nacho, her hands glowing, her voice growling.

Kim, knowing what Shego had came here for, stood up and began to march over to where Shego was standing. Ron hissed, "KP, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to face Shego," was Kim's reply. She continued to march forward without looking back. She stopped when Shego turned and saw her.

"Shego," said Kim coolly, "it's me you came for, isn't it?"

"No, I came here to order one of those disgusting nacos," sneered Shego. _"Of course_ I came looking for you! Do you know what Dr. D did because of you?"

Ron gasped in horror, "He illegalized the naco!"

"To _me,_ Stoppable," growled Shego, who used a swift gesture to remind him that her hands were still lit. Ron laughed nervously and slinked down in his seat.

The realization began to sink in. "You mean…" said Kim slowly.

"That's right," said Shego, walking up closer to Kim, "He fired me. And you know something else? I _might _have been able to look for employment from the other villains, were it not for _you_ revealing _my_ little secret."

"You know, I hear Bueno Nacho is hiring," spoke up Ron.

"Not helping, Ron!" hissed Kim. Her stomach was beginning to churn her partially-digested salad with the realization she may have possibly ruined Shego's villainous career. "So…what is it you want, Shego? Revenge? Compensation?"

"A free naco?" offered Ron.

"Nah, revenge will do," said Shego before taking a lunge at Kim. Kim ducked and flipped Shego over on to her side. Shego got back up and the two women were back to their usual fighting routine.

Or so it seemed. Kim could almost swear that Shego seemed to have lost at least part of her fighting spirit. She would throw an almost half-hearted punch before being kicked down. She would get up slowly and kick her leg towards Kim lazily, making it too easy for Kim to block. It was when she stopped lighting up her hands that Kim started to say, "Shego, what's come over—"

She was cut off by a prompt kick to the face and fell over to the floor. As the stars in her eyes began to fade, she heard Shego say coldly, "Your website says you can do anything, but it doesn't say you can ruin people's careers. You're coming with me, Possible."

Ron leaped up from his seat and stood in front of Kim. "Then you'll just have to take me, too, Shego!" he declared.

"Uh-huh, yeah, me too!" piped up Rufus.

Shego grabbed Kim by the wrist. "I have no interest in sidekicks, or pink little naked…_things,"_ she said with disgust.

"So what, you're going to turn me over to Drakken in hopes he'll hire you back?" said Kim.

"Don't make it sound so pathetic when _you_ put it that way," sneered Shego.

Just then, Drakken came bursting through the front doors, looking like a child in F.A.O. Schwartz. "Where is it? Where is it?" he cried out as he jumped up and down. "Where is the Grande Sized All-You-Can-Eat Naco Buffet?"

"Dude, even _I_ know those things are a total scam," scoffed Ron.

"Scam, uh-huh," said Rufus, nodding.

Now, Drakken looked like a child in F.A.O. Schwartz whose parents had just informed him his time was up before he could choose what he wanted. "B, but…there was this e-mail…it had flashy lights…and…and…"

"Hey, Dr. D!" declared Shego. She marched over to Drakken, still holding Kim, and said, "I got Possible right here! What do you say we go back to your lair and—"

"Not now, Shego," said Drakken with a wave of his hand. "There's something very suspicious going on here…"

Shego growled, "Oh no, you did _not_ just give _me_ the hand!" She shoved Kim into Drakken's arms and said, "FYI, that e-mail was a fake, sent by me, because it was the only way I could get you to—"

"_Shego,"_ said Drakken tensely as he tossed Kim aside, "I told you—how would it look if I were to have a former superhero as my sidekick? The other villains are already talking about you being a spy for _Possible,"_ he spat the name out. "And if _I_ associate with _you,_ they'll think _I'm_ a spy, too! No thanks!"

He started to leave, but Shego blocked his path and said impatiently, "Dr. _D._ If I were a spy, do you think I would hand over my own ally to you?"

"So you admit it!" declared Drakken. "You _are_ a spy for Possible!"

"No, that's not what I—" Shego tried to explain, but Drakken cut her off: "No buts! This is end of the line, Shego!"

He pushed open the doors leading outside of Bueno Nacho. With his ponytail blowing in the wind, he turned and declared dramatically, "Goodbye, She—GAH!" he cried out when a gust of wind caused the door to fly right back into his face. He left clutching his nose and groaning.

Shego let go of Kim, and gave her a hateful glare Kim had never seen from her before. It was not a pre-butt kicking look, nor was it a fierce, determined look. The look within those eyes was pure hatred. Shego let out a yell and kicked Kim across the restaurant. "I hope you're happy, _Possible,"_ she said coldly.

Kim examined the floor with her fingernails while she listened to Shego leave. "I really blew it, Ron," she said softly.

"What is there to blow?" said Ron. He came over to Kim and helped her stand up. "Shego's out of business, and that's one less villain, which means one less threat to the free world, which means one less threat to Bueno Nacho. Ah boo-yah!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Kim slowly. She looked out the window at Shego being left behind by Drakken flying away in his disk. Shego glared at Kim through the window one last time before marching off. Though, she did not look prideful with her walk. She looked like an obviously ill person trying to hide their illness, and failing.

"But still," said Kim, "it doesn't feel right."

She looked over at her unfinished salad. She didn't feel hungry anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

4

Kim had spent the past few days thinking of a solution to Shego's problem. She wasn't sure why it concerned her. On the one hand, there was one less villain, one less threat to the free world.

On the other…it was _Shego._ Seeing her like this, unemployed and in disgrace, just bothered her. She deserved better than this.

Kim continued her pondering the next day after cheer practice. She was walking home from school with Ron, who kept babbling on about how he had just gotten into the Evil Medieval Trio comic books Wade had leant to him.

"I mean, dude, they are so _awesome!"_ declared Ron as he pumped his fists in the air. "And that Lord Hung is just _so_ evil I'm _glad_ he doesn't actually _exist!_ You'd be glad, too, Kim…Kim?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, Ron; I spaced," apologized Kim.

"You've been spacing a lot, Kim," commented Ron. "You're not still hung up over Shego, are you? One less foe to worry about, no big deal!"

"Yeah," sighed Kim. "But still, I feel kind of bad."

"So send her a cake or something," said Ron. He looked at his watch. "Whoops, I've got to go home now; I promised my dad I'd mow the lawn for him tonight. Well, _I_ didn't really promise, _he_ did, but hey—you'd have to be a fool to turn down your father offering to pay for your nacos for the next month!"

He ran off home. Kim stood and sighed. She felt bad about neglecting Ron like this, but she felt she had to do _something_ for Shego…but _what?_

"_So send her a cake or something."_

"Maybe not a cake," muttered Kim. "But maybe I can at least talk to her."

* * *

Even Kim had to admit it was a weird favour to ask of Wade. But she knew this was what she had to do.

"Just one more turn to the right…Kim are you _sure_ about this?" asked Wade.

"I'm positive, Wade," said Kim. She looked up at the house that stood before her. It looked just like any other house in Middleton, but she had expected as much—Shego would have had enough experience to know the key to hiding from your enemy was "subtlety".

She turned off the Kimmunicator and began to walk up to the porch. Would Shego even _want_ to see her face after what had happened?

"Hey! Possible! Get off my property!"

Kim recognized that voice all too well. She turned around and sure enough, there was Shego standing in the streets with her lands lit up, her face wrenched in fury. Or rather, a _contrived_ fury, as though she were just saving face by getting angry at the mere presence of Kim Possible.

Kim stepped forward and began to say, "Shego, I'm—"

"_You,"_ Shego thrust a lit finger in front of Kim's face, "don't talk." She dropped that finger. "You ruined my career. You want to rub it in my face?" She unlit her hands and cracked her knuckles. "Go ahead. Make my day."

_Okay…let's see if there's a diplomatic way to get this started,_ thought Kim. She said, "Shego, I know an apology won't exactly fix it, but…"

"But _what,_ Possible?" demanded Shego. "The clock is ticking."

Kim's mind blanked. Everything she had planned to say, everything about how she was so sorry for what had happened and wanted to make it up to Shego, was gone. "Um…uh…er…"

"Tick. Tock," said Shego irritably.

"What if…I could help you?" blurted out Kim.

"Tch, please," said Shego, giving Kim "the hand". "You've done enough."

"No, I mean, really," said Kim quickly. "There's this cheer-off in Friday against the Lowerton Lemurs. What if you were to crash the cheer-off and kidnap me?" No response. "Then brag about it?" Still nothing. "On national television?"

Now there was some sort of reply: "I'm listening…"

* * *

Friday came much too soon for the cheerleaders' liking. In spite of all their preparations, the girls felt underwhelmed and anxious.

"We had _better_ win," said Bonnie, pounding her hand into her fist as the cheerleaders stood in the dressing room. She pointed at Tara and snapped, "This is all _your _fault!"

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" cried out Tara, standing up from her chair. "I was just trying to help!"

"You've helped us _enough,"_ snapped Bonnie. She turned to Kim and said, "Kim, could you please kick Miss Help off the squad?"

Kim felt a twinge of pity for Tara, whose head hanged low. The sight reminded her of how Shego might look if she were the type to let her real feelings show. Bonnie, wanting to have Tara thrown off the squad. Drakken, wanting to have Shego fired. Both because the inclusion of that person, in their eyes, would ruin their reputation amongst their respective communities.

"Bonnie," said Kim, "I'll remind Tara to be more careful about what she says in the future, but I can't kick her off the squad just for saying a few choice words. Besides, we're going to need her for most of the stunts anyway, and if we're one girl short on the squad, we're bound to lose."

"Yeah, whatever, "grumbled Bonnie.

"On the bright side, we'll be on TV!" said Crystal cheerfully. "And I hear this is being broadcasted to every United State in existence!"

Kim put on a smile for the squad's sake. She decided to let Shego's appearance be the surprise it was supposed to be. She wasn't supposed to kidnap Kim until _after_ the stunt was done, after all.

Ron peeked his head in from outside the dressing room door. "Um, girls?" he said. "The Lemurs are almost done with their routine. We're up next." He gave a cheesy grin. "Go mad dogs!"

Kim picked up her pom-poms and said, "Okay, girls, it's time to get out there and show what we're made of!"

Ron opened the door up for the squad and slipped on his mad dog head. Kim looked out into the darkened bleachers just to make sure Shego had shown up—sure enough, she was hiding in the front row wearing a green hooded vest and blue jeans. Kim gave her a secret wave with a pom-pom. Shego smirked, eager for the opportunity to prove herself once more.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, was an excellent cheer performed by the Lowerton Lemurs! Up next is the Middleton Mad Dogs!"

The spotlight shined on the girls. Ron began with his Mad Dog routine, howling with glee and spraying whipped foam around, splashing some on the Lowerton Lemur mascot, and the cheerleaders. The girls cried out and ducked as the girls began their routine.

Shego, too, ducked the foam, and awaited for when she would finally have the chance to reclaim her glory….

* * *

This was it. This was _the_ move that would make or break the entire competition. Up to now, the pyramid had been formed using every move in the book, and now, it was Kim's turn. She did a herke mid-air, a backflip, and finally…

"Sorry, princess, but I'm afraid this beauty contest is _over!"_ declared Shego from the audience just in time for Kim to reach the top. She lit up her hands and ran over to the pyramid with a snarl, the girls squealing in terror. Kim leaped off the top and kicked Shego in the face as she landed. Shego got back up and lunged for Kim's face, which was skilfully blocked with a move of the hand.

"Is this part of the routine or something?" asked one of the Lowerton Lemur cheerleaders.

"I…I don't think so," said Tara nervously as she observed the two women seemed to _really_ get into the fight.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no," moaned Ron. He took off his head and looked around for something—anything—to bring this sudden attack to a stop. He was always there for Kim in the past, and he was not about to back off now.

His eyes landed on the double doors, which opened to reveal a nervous-looking girl wheeling in a cart with a cake, nicely decorated with pink-and-white frosting. "U, um, hello?" she tried calling out, her voice barely rising above the warrior cries of Shego. "I'm here to drop off a cake for the winning team?"

Taking his chance, Ron dashed over to the woman and said, "'Scuse me, I'll take it, thank you." Before the woman had a chance to object, Ron kicked the cart towards the fighting girls. It was at that moment that Kim had kicked Shego in the back.

Before continuing, it should be mentioned that this was supposed to be the final move on Kim's part. She was supposed to turn to leave. Shego was supposed to get up and temporarily incapacitate Kim, declare her victory on national television, and then leave with the teen hero in tow.

What happened _instead_ was that Kim did not see the incoming cake , kicked Shego in the back, and Shego fell face first into the cake on national television. The villains watching had a laugh over the irony from the safety of their homes. The people in attendance, however, were too stunned to react.

"Sh, Shego, I'm…" Kim stammered, realizing too late she probably should've warned Ron about this ahead of time.

Shego stood up and spun around to Kim. Not even the frosting on her face could hide the devastating humiliation and anger across it. "So _this_ was your plan, _Possible,"_ she spat. "You just _couldn't_ be happy with ruining my career. You just wanted to _humiliate_ me on top of it!"

"No, wait, I," Kim tried to explain, but Shego was already across the gym and out the swinging doors. Her guilt grew, and she couldn't even rejoice when the stunned judges regained their composure and declared the Middleton Mad Dogs to be the winner.


	5. Chapter 5

5

The next day, Kim used the same coordinates from Wade to make her way back to Shego's house. This time, she took Ron with her, much to his reluctance.

"Kim, are you sure this is necessary?" asked Ron as the two stopped in front of Shego's house. "I mean, you wished for Shego to have her _own_ humbling moment. And you just don't _get_ more humbling than falling into a cake on live television."

Kim admitted, "Yeah, but I had no idea I would feel this bad once it actually happened. It's my fault Shego got humiliated twice, and I need to fix it." She rang the doorbell and waited for any sign of someone being inside. She waited nearly a minute, but there was no answer.

"So, uh…does this mean we can go to Bueno Nacho now?" said Ron nervously. He eyed the door as though it would burst into green flames and strike him down just for wheeling the cake in at the wrong time.

"Uh-uh, must stay, make right," piped up Rufus.

"You too, Rufus?" said Ron in disbelief.

"Ron, evil or not, we can't just let Shego fall completely from grace like this," insisted Kim. "We've come too far to give up now." She jiggled the doorknob, surprised to be able to open the door with ease. The two walked in together, expecting for Shego to come out of nowhere and blast them both out the door.

What they found instead was a figure in the living room, to their left, slumped over flipping through some sort of photo album. Kim and Ron cautiously walked in together, and peered over Shego's shoulder. Within this album were news clippings of Shego's past deeds as a superhero:

"Team Go Sticks Electronique Back In Her Socket"

"The Mathter Plus Team Go Equals Jail Time"

"Aviarius Put Back In Cage"

Given that Shego had little to no reaction to these lame headlines, Kim knew this was bad.

"Possible," said Shego dully. Kim realized she had been standing a little _too_ close, making her shadow visible. She stepped back a foot. "Um, hi," she said awkwardly.

"Let me guess," said Shego in the same, dull tone. "You're here to set my house on fire."

Her tone lacked its usual sharp edge, but it was enough to make Kim feel cut. "No," she said, fighting past the urge to turn back. "I came to help."

Not once turning around, Shego snapped, "You've helped _enough._ Thanks to _you,_ my reputation has already been dug _further_ into the ground. So no, I don't exactly _want_ your "help"."

"Shego, I am _so_ sorry for last night," Kim began, but Shego cut her off: "Sorry for what? Sorry for making me realize how I'm nothing more than a washed-up _failure?_ A sad excuse for a wanna-be villain?" She sighed, "A pathetic former hero claiming to be evil? A—"

"_Don't say that!"_ cried out Kim. She threw herself to the ground next to Shego and said, "Shego, you can be so much _better_ than that, and this—this just isn't _like_ you!"

"Yeah," said Shego, not changing her tone. "My stupid brothers could tell you that. You know, the ones I betrayed and everything."

Kim wasn't sure what to make of this statement, but she said, "Shego, I…I never intended for _any_ of this to happen. Honestly, I…I'd never go out of my way to humiliate someone like that. Do you think I'd be here right now if I _didn't_ feel sorry for what happened?"

Shego's hands began to close the album as Kim said, "Shego…you can't just give up; you've got to _fight. Fight_ to prove yourself again."

"Even if it means going back to trying to take over the world?" said Shego. "With or without Drakken?"

"With or without Drakken," said Kim. "To be honest, it's just not the same without someone like _you_ there. You were a real _challenge;_ you made me push my limits as a hero, see what I was capable of doing."

Shego closed the album the rest of the way and muttered, "I guess that cake stunt _was_ pretty lame at Lucre's party…"

"Apology accepted," said Kim. She wondered if she should dare risk it, but she did: "Hey, Shego…you don't think a hug would be _too_ much for this moment, do you?"

"Don't push it, pumpkin," said Shego, beginning to sound like her old self.

Just then, the Kimmunicator beeped. Ron, having been giving the Kimmunicator, pulled it out of his pocket and pressed a button. "Yo, Wade, we're kind of busy with a really weird hero-villain bonding moment," he said.

"I'm afraid I'll have to interrupt it," said Wade. "I just got a hot tip from Europe. Professor Dementor has kidnapped Drakken!"

"Wait, _what?"_ said Shego sharply. She and Kim both leapt up to their feet as Wade said, "I'll play the video Drakken left."

Ron turned the Kimmunicator to face both women and within seconds, Drakken's face came on-screen, looking quite terrified and anxious of his situation.

"Uh, hey, Kim Possible?" said Drakken. "Remember when I said _maybe_ you're all that? That one time I gave you a teensy little compliment? Well now, Dementor has kidnapped me and it's all because he's holding on to that stupid grudge about how I tricked you into stealing his technology last year! I swear, do you know anyone who would hold a grudge over something that happened a long time ago to the point where they'd consider _revenge?"_

"I can think of a few people," said Kim, staring directly at Drakken.

"Well, anyway, I know this sounds pathetic coming from your own arch-foe, but _come over here and save me now!"_ Drakken shouted, the camera wobbling.

"What was that?" called out Dementor's voice in the background. He came into view and squinted at the camera. "What's this?"

"Uh, nothing, I'm just documenting your attempt on world domination so, uh, the entire world will know how you did it," Drakken quickly lied.

"Pah! Lies!" declared Dementor. He ran up to the camera, gave it a sharp kick, and then there was static.

"Oh, you _bet_ we're on it," growled Shego. She pressed a button to turn the Kimmunicator off before Wade could question what Shego was doing there and said, "Let's go, Kimmie."

"Um, yeah, here's the thing," said Kim uneasily. "I'm going to have to contact someone you _haven't_ ticked off, so…sit tight."

"Oh _good,"_ groaned Shego. Somehow, Kim took this as a good sign that all would be well soon.


	6. Chapter 6

6

Kim finally managed to arrange for a ride from MC Honey's private yacht, where she, Ron, and Shego found themselves two hours later.

"Thanks for the favour, MC Honey," said Kim.

"No sweat, Kim!" said MC Honey. "It was all I could do after the time you rescued me from those crazy kidnappers in the Amazon using only one hair barette."

"It's no big," shrugged Kim.

"Nothing is _ever_ a "big" by you, is it, princess?" said Shego snidely. She turned to MC Honey and said, "So. MC Honey, huh? Look, it's not like I'm _interested_ or anything, but is the fight between you and Britina officially over?"

"That? Oh, that was just for the sake of publicity," said MC Honey with a wave of the hand. "Man, I haven't gotten this near a villain ever since that blue guy tried to get me to sponsor his shampoo!"

"Dr. Drakken," said Shego. "His name was Dr. Drakken."

"Whatever," shrugged MC Honey. "Last I heard, his shampoo didn't exactly sell."

"Yeah, it was doomed to be a flop from the start," said Shego, beginning to sound lifeless once more. "Excuse me."

Shego began to walk over to the front of the boat and gazed into the ocean. While Ron began to attempt asking MC Honey for her number, Kim walked over to Shego and said, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I guess," shrugged Shego. "It's just…Dr. D is _such_ a goof with all his stupid schemes, and there were times where I'd think 'why am I still with this guy? I could take over the world on my own without his help'. And then when we finally _do_ split up, I miss him and I don't know why."

Kim had her suspicions, but chose to keep them to herself, lest Shego get a little _too_ back into character. "So, Shego," she said, "tell me about your life. Before you became a hero or a villain, I mean."

"Eh, pretty boring life," sighed Shego. "Just your typical family living in a house in the suburbs just near the depths of Go City, with me, my brothers, and…" She trailed off.

"Your parents?" finished Kim.

Shego nodded. "Yeah, yeah my parents," she muttered. "If only they were still around…"

"What do you mean?" asked Kim, though she began to fear she was prying into personal matter.

"Oh, just the usual," said Shego, continuing to look out into the ocean. "Mom died, dad took off, left us alone to take care of ourselves, Hego tries to be the brother _and_ the dad while he makes me play the mom…"

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Kim softly. She tried to imagine getting through life without her own parents, or suddenly being promoted to parent, but couldn't. She wondered what kind of effect an experience like that would've been bound to have on Shego.

"So, Lucre," said Shego, suddenly changing the subject. "What's his real name?"

Though she felt disconcerted about Shego's eagerness to talk about something else, Kim said, "Frances Lerman."

Shego stifled a laugh. "Wow, that's almost as bad as Drew Lipsky."

"Tell me about it, huh?" laughed Kim. Shego also had to laugh, then they stopped when they realized this was actually resembling a _moment._

"This might sound crazy," Kim began, "but I think I understand you a little better."

Shego looked over at Kim. "Okay, _now_ I guess this can get mushy."

Kim took a step closer to Shego and awkwardly placed her hands around her, pulling her in for something resembling a hug. She let go after a few seconds, and the two women continued to stand there.

"That…wasn't bad," admitted Shego.

"Yeah," said Kim. "I guess it wasn't."

But neither spoke of it for the rest of the journey.

* * *

When they arrived at Dementor's new lair in Switzerland, they realized this would not be an easy entrance, for there were dogs at every corner surrounding the outside.

"So how do we get in?" whispered Ron. "Shego, you've got your cool laser-thingy, right?"

"Yeah, but with _these_ kind of dogs, that probably won't be enough," said Shego, eyeing up each dog carefully.

"KP, got any gadgets from Wade?" said Ron.

"Let me see." Kim rummaged through her pockets before pulling out her usual grappling hook. "It's a long shot, but it's better than nothing. Ron, Shego, hang on to me."

"Er…okay, princess," said Shego slowly, hanging on to one side of Kim's waist while Ron held on to the other. Kim took careful aim, found the right balcony ledge high enough for her hook to reach, and fired. The three went flying through the air, above the dogs, and to the safety of the balcony.

"We made it," said Kim. "Now let's go."

"Yo, Stoppable," said Shego. "Where are your pants?"

Ron looked down and, once again, stood in his undies. He looked down onto the ground to see the dogs eagerly chewing up his pants. "Aw man," he grumbled.

Rufus stuck his head out of Ron's underwear and said, "Aww, man."

* * *

Dementor let out an evil laugh. Drakken was tied up, and hanging above a pit of crocodiles. The rope had a candle hanging from the ceiling, burning through it. All he had to do now was wait for the candle to burn out.

"So long, Drakken," sneered Dementor. "Too bad you'll never get to see me conquer the world by threatening to destroy Canada unless I am declared ruler of the world!"

He began laughing once more, only to be interrupted by a loud _BANG_ and the door falling down. Kim, Ron, and Shego came marching in together, each looking fierce to kick some butt.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Shego, the little spy, teaming up with her own arch-foe," taunted Dementor. "I can't wait to tell the other villains you have finally double-crossed us all!"

"And that, Dementor, is where you are wrong!" declared Ron. "Shego is only just here to see if your car is running faster than your fridge! While suffocating Albert!"

"Say what?" said Dementor, scratching his head.

Ron continued to confuse Dementor with more bizarre takes on prank calls while Kim raced up to the control room and Shego leapt right into the pits of crocodiles. She grabbed one by the tail and, with a wild swing, used it to take down all the others in just one swoop. It was then that the candle, at last, burned out.

The rope snapped and Drakken began to fall, screaming and crying for his mother's cookies, but Shego caught him in her arms just in time.

"Is, is it over now?" whimpered Drakken.

"No, Drakken," declared Dementor after Ron had run out of phrases to use. "It is _far_ from over! Guards, seize the spy!"

Dementor's henchmen came running into the room and towards Shego. She threw Drakken across the room and began to attack them. She lit up her hands and neatly dodged each of their blows, striking right where necessary. When she noticed one running towards Drakken, she quickly changed her sights and the fighting continued.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kim was in the control room realizing the situation was dire. Canada was being held hostage and one wrong move would spell disaster.

Kim carefully pulled a lever down, and pushed another button. She could see the pressure gauge needle slowly moving towards the green area. Taking her chances, she pressed another button, and the needle moved away.

"Wrong move," she hissed under her breath and pulled another level. She carefully experimented with the levers and buttons, her eyes not once leaving the gauge.

At last, Kim let out a sigh of relief when the needle reached the green area and she heard the familiar, comforting sounds of weapons of destruction settling down.

* * *

Shego swept her hands in satisfaction to see the all the henchmen piled up and groaning in pain with their master behaving like Drakken on a really bad day.

"No! Unfair!" pouted Dementor. "Oh, well. At least I'll still be able to conquer the world from my control room!" He let out an evil laugh and began to run up the stairs, but Kim kicked him off, and he landed right in Shego's arms, who lifted him up and said, "Tell the other villains I said hi."

"That's a 'boo' to the 'yah' baby," said Ron triumphantly, no longer caring about his destroyed pants.

* * *

After the police had picked up Dementor, Kim, Ron, Drakken, and Shego went back on MC Honey's yacht so they could go home. Drakken rubbed the back of his neck and stammered, "Possible, Stoppable. Ah, well, about how you saved my life, I, uh…"

"_Us?"_ said Kim. "Nah, we just stopped Dementor. Shego's the one who saved you."

"Right," said Drakken. He walked up to Shego and said, "Uh, Shego…why exactly did you come to save me? It wasn't because _you_ wanted to _punish_ me for _firing _you or anything, was it?"

"Nah," said Shego. "Let's just say you really can learn a thing or two from your own enemy."

"Look, I'm really, _really_ sorry for firing you, okay?" said Drakken quickly. "You're rehired now so please, don't hurt me." He held up his hands in self-defence.

"All's forgiven, Doc," said Shego. "Just because seeing you grovel like that is payback enough."

Drakken laughed nervously and said, "I don't know if it'll help your reputation or not, but I'll tell the other villains about how you helped out a fellow villain in need. In fact, I'll do it right now!" He called out, "Oh MC Honey! I need your laptop!"

As he ran up to MC Honey to harass her, Kim walked up to Shego and said, "Uh, thanks Kim?" Shego looked reluctant to even say it.

"Look, there's no one on the ship but just you, me, MC Honey and her posse, Ron, and Drakken, who is totally out of earshot, and I won't tell anyone about this," said Kim.

"Yeah, well…thanks Kim," sighed Shego.

"Don't mention it," said Kim with a smile.

"Don't worry; _I won't,"_ said Shego, changing her tone at the drop of a hat.

Kim could hardly believe what Shego was saying. _"What?" _

Shego sneered, "Look, Possible, the sentimental mushy-mush between us was nice while it lasted, but now that Drakken has rehired me, I've got to start re-building my reputation, which means less buddy-buddy moments, 'kay? I'll see you on the next mission, _Kimmie cub!"_

With a smirk and flip of her long, black hair, Shego marched back over to Drakken, who had now resorted to begging. Kim stormed over to Ron and exclaimed, "I _don't_ believe her! After all she went through this past week, after what I did for her, she's just going to act like _none_ of this even _happened?"_

"Hey, maybe Shego's just one of those people who fails, learns, fails, learns, and takes several times before learning," shrugged Ron. "And who knows, maybe there's still a chance she might not be _too_ evil and you could get to bonding someday."

Kim looked over her shoulder and noticed Shego looking back at her. The two exchanged a secret wink and smile. Kim turned back to Ron and said, "You know, Ron, I really do think you're onto something."

_The end_

* * *

A/N: Wow, I didn't intend for a story this short to take as long as it did, especially not something that was basically a re-write from a long time ago, so major apologies. I know it kind of has a downer ending, but it DOES take place during season four, after all. Ironically, this was the same time of year I wrote this back in 2005! Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it!


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